So Far Gone
by a starr in photo
Summary: They were never sure why she ran away, but they never would have expected what they found. Implied E/P History and eventual E/P. Set post Season 4.
1. Chapter 1

It had been a shock really, when Parker disappeared. Maybe it shouldn't have been. Parker was a nomad, struck with either fear or wanderlust; she never stayed anywhere too long. And yes, she'd been captured by the mark for a day or so, but nobody predicted the total and complete vanishing act she had pulled. When they returned to their offices and homes that night, they found everything exactly as it had been, all the things she had nicked over the years had been returned, her office cleared out. Everything, every last trace of Parker, both in physicality and in absence was gone.

It was strange, not having the crazy thief around, and they looked for her. Searched for her. But for the baddest team on the East Coast, moved West Coast too, they couldn't find her. And they years ticked by, and while Parker hadn't been the glue keeping the team together, her absence hurt all the same, and Apollo sufficed to do her jobs, and did them well, but there wasn't the finesse, that distinctly Parker quality, and he wasn't family, like she had been.

There came a time when they stopped looking. It was impossible to find a thief that didn't want to be found, and they all knew her well enough to know that she had left. She hadn't been taken, she wasn't dead. They had confidence in that at least. And while that was comforting, it also hurt; it meant she had left on her own, of her own accord, that she no longer wanted to be with them.

They kept their eyes open though, and their ears pricked, hoping for some sort of trace, a tell, something to let them know that Parker was alright. That maybe she'd come back, but she didn't, and it had been nearly five years.

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><p>"Cooper!" Parker shouted from the kitchen of a tiny little loft in Denver; she had a plate with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in one hand, and a cup of milk in the other. A small blond boy, no more than four slid into the kitchen on his knees, a huge stuffed octopus held over his head as its tentacles cascaded to the floor.<p>

"Yes Mommy?" He blinked up at her, still on his knees, dressed in athletic pants and his favorite green shirt.

"Lunch time, and then we're going to the gym," Parker grinned, setting both items down at the breakfast bar, not even paying any mind to the dramatic entrance. "Come on, up up," she guided him onto the chair and picked up a triangle of the sandwich, and she handed it to the little boy before she began to clean up the kitchen, putting away the sandwich things.

Cooper bit in happily, and through a mouth full of peanut butter and jelly, he asked, "are you working or are we climbing?"

The rock gym was the perfect job for Parker, well real job at least. She taught climbing, belayed for customers, hosted children's parties and even led outdoor climbing expeditions, and now that Cooper was older, she could bring him with her. And when she had free time, she taught him to climb, and when she was busy he just played in the miles and miles of artificial caves that ran circles around the rock gym with other kids.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," she chastised quickly. "I have to work, but we should get there early enough for you to climb a few runs," Parker grinned, putting the bread back in the breadbox. Cooper scarfed down the rest of the sandwich and moved to run off while her back was turned. "Hey!" She spun around, "no, no," a stern look as she pointed at his glass, "drink your milk."

The small blond boy huffed dramatically, sitting back down on the chair as he gulped down the entire glass. Emptied, he set it down on the counter.

"Thank you," she moved his cup to the sink, "go get your climbing gear," she smiled lovingly, "but change your shirt, you spilled jelly," she called after him, but he was already out of sight. Parker just sighed, rolling her eyes. Most of the time she was glad that Cooper seemed to have nothing in common with his father, but that meant by extension that he had an awful lot in common with her, and Parker had come to sympathize with Eliot to an extent.

She pulled his lunch box out of the cupboard and packed some baby carrots and crackers with a bottle of water. The boy was like a bottomless pit, and Parker knew better than to go anywhere without snacks. A few moments later Cooper came thundering down the stairs, freshly dressed, backpack in hand. Parker grabbed her own pack as she moved into the living room, and shoved her keys into her pocket.

"Mom!" He shouted from the door, "Mom lets go," he was sitting on the foot of the stairs, pulling on his sneakers.

"I'm coming," she laughed and knelt down to tie his shoes quickly, and she helped him slide his arms through the straps of the backpack. Cooper didn't wait for her to pick him up, and practically climbed up her side.

"Oh hello, Monkey," she wrapped an arm around him for support, though she knew he didn't really need it. She slung her pack over her shoulder and locked the door behind her.

The drive to the rock gym was short, made shorter by her driving, though she was quite a bit more restrained with Cooper buckled into his car seat in the back, and she caught a glance of his beaming face every time she checked the rearview mirror.

Despite the fact that the car seat was supposed to be childproof, Cooper was out of his seat and practically vibrating with energy. She insisted he hold her hand as they walked into the gym. It had been nearly a week since he had climbed last, and he certainly seemed to like it as much if not more than Parker.

"Harry!" Cooper shouted, running over to the counter, behind which the owner of the gym sat.

"Hey Monkey," the older man chuckled, plucking the boy off the ground and held him upside down. "You're early. You and Momma going to climb?" He asked over Cooper's shrieking laughter.

Parker grinned, and stuffed Cooper's snack into one of the cubbies, and was already sliding her harness on, tightening the straps. She pulled Cooper's out too, it was her own design, bright green to match his shoes, and tailored exactly to his size, since she trusted those with adjustment features much less- it was easier just to put together a new one when he out grew them, and this particular one was number four in the 'Cooper Line.'

"Yeah, she said we've got extra time." Cooper nodded as Harry righted him, setting the little monkey boy back on the ground.

"Yeah but you're going to run out of time if you don't get over here, Monkey," Parker warned, pulling his climbing shoes and chalk out of the pack. He geared up quickly, both thanks to Parker's help and his own expertise, from lots of practice, and in minutes he was half way up the wall, hanging onto one fake rock by one hand.

"You see the next hold, Coop?" the belay rope was grasped tightly in her hands, not that she actually thought that he would fall. Cooper had been climbing everything within sight since before he could walk properly, and she knew he was ready to start rock climbing when she had found him sitting on top of his bedroom door, apparently able to get up, but not able to get down. That and Parker could tell he had a solid grip, and so she knew her worry was a little irrational, but it was there anyway.

"Yeah, got it," Cooper laughed brightly and swung his whole body to the left, catching one foot on a rock, and then slowly, with uncanny precision for a four year old, he wedged his other foot against another rock and let go of the hold with his hand. He reached up for another hold and pulled his whole body up, catching a new place for his foot.

"Nice one, Monkey," Parker beamed. So maybe being similar to him wasn't as bad as she could make it out to be. She spent nearly all of her time with him, would until he started school in the fall, but climbing was something they both passionately enjoyed. He was her partner in crime, though rarely literally.

They managed to fit in three climbs before Parker's student arrived, and Cooper rappelled down the wall with a whine. He liked playing in the tunnels with Gabby, but climbing with his mom was more fun.

"Hush, hush. I'm setting a new line in the state park over the weekend if you want you can climb with me," it was a barely concealed bribe, but Cooper didn't mind. "Got your bracelet?" She asked before he could run off. It was a bit of a genius idea, really, and she could thank Hardison for the knowledge to create it.

There were literally miles and miles of caving and there were no cellphones allowed since they provided light in the pitch black tunnels, and Parker didn't want him having one anyway. Instead she had crafted a little bracelet that vibrated when she pressed a button on her own. A crude system, but at least he knew when to go looking for her.

He held up his wrist before scrambling into one of the entrances to find Gabby, Harry's daughter. He knew his way around in the caves for the most part, and he knew that he was most likely to find her hiding in the atrium like space, waiting to scare other people who passed by.

"Gabby?" Cooper voiced loudly as he neared the open space. "Gabby are you hiding?" He pulled up his sock that was sliding off as he wriggled forward on his stomach.

"Coop?" a female voice in the darkness and he knew he'd found her. She was eight, and quite a bit bigger than him, but he could hold his own against her.

"Hey," he greeted, "wanna go to the gym?"

The rock gym was just that, both a gym and an indoor rock climbing area, and though there were separate entrances, the caves linked both areas.

"Sure do you want to go first, or me?" Gabby replied, and Cooper shrugged instinctively, even though she couldn't see him.

"Don't care, you can," the shuffling sound indicated he'd follow her, he didn't mind following and she knew her way around much better, no doubt that she wouldn't get lost.

Indeed fifteen minutes later she tumbled out of the cave, and Cooper followed on her heels. "Tag, you're it," Gabby shouted, tapping Cooper on the shoulder before bolting. She wove around the people and machinery before diving into another entrance to the cave system. Cooper went running after her, but he was much less graceful than Gabby, and as he tripped over his own feet, he slammed face first into a very large man.

"Woah now," huge hands caught him before he could fall to the ground. "Careful bud," a raspy chuckle and Cooper looked up with wide, bright blue terrified eyes. He'd bothered men in the gym once before, and he'd gotten yelled at by them, and then also in trouble with his mother, and if he wanted to go with his mom to set the line, then he couldn't be in trouble.

"I'm sorry," he cried frantically, "I didn't mean to," he stepped back; the man wasn't as large as he had thought, muscular yes, but not too tall, and he didn't quite look angry. But then he also looked like he had an angry face.

"It's alright, Bud, just watch where you're going," he wasn't sweaty yet, so Cooper assumed he'd just gotten there, but the man's eye was puffy, and there was a cut on his cheek. "Are you here alone?" The man looked around trying to locate anyone who could be missing a child.

"My mom's working, are you a bad guy?" as with the way of most children, there was no real segue between the two points of interest.

"No, I fight bad guys. Your mom just left you here while she's working?" He was clearly concerned, though not as clearly to the four year old boy who was more intrigued by the bad guy comment.

"She teaches people to climb, she's over there," he waved arbitrarily towards the wall. "Are you like a cop or a super hero or something? I like super heroes. Superman was my favorite but he doesn't really count a 'cause he's an alien. Now I like Spiderman 'cause he climbs like me but I haven't been bited by a spider. Who's your favorite superhero? I bet its Batman, you look like an angry Batman kinda guy. My mom likes Arana, but she says she knows real superheroes she tells me stories sometimes," Cooper chattered without any input from the man.

"Actually, Captain America was my favorite superhero," he interrupted with a laugh, "but I think we should get you back to your momma, she might start to worry."

"It's okay, she's busy. I'm supposta be in the caves." Cooper explained matter of factly, but he didn't struggle when the man picked him up.

"Let's go check with her then. I'd like to meet her," nobody in their right mind would trust the word of a child, and the man carried Cooper out of the door, keeping his socked feet off the ground outside.

"You have long hair like a girl," Cooper commented as they walked in the front door of the rock climbing area.

"Where's your Momma?" the man asked, glancing at the blond boy in his arms.

"Over there!" Cooper pointed at a woman with a blond ponytail, "Hi Mommy!" Cooper shouted, waving at her.

The blond woman spun around, still grasping the belay rope. "Eliot?"

"Parker? The surprise was evident in his voice, and his eyes were wide.

"No, I'm Cooper," the boy piped up.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: No worries, I have a chapter of The Parts We Play all written up, I just wanted to get this one out first as a thanks for the overwhelming response to the first chapter. I'm flattered guys! So glad you all like it!

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><p>Parker had lowered her student to the ground slowly, and apologized for cutting the lesson short with a promise for a few one. And then she had met Cooper and Eliot outside on a picnic table. They were playing some sort of game with the baby carrots she had packed earlier as a snack.<p>

"No! Don't eat it," Parker heard her son shrill, snatching a carrot out of Eliot's hands as he joked around with the little blond boy.

"But I wanna eat it," Eliot teased, "Are you going to eat it? Cause if you're not it'd be a shame to waste it," Cooper nodded and stuffed the whole carrot in his mouth.

Through a mouthful of orange shreds, the little boy replied, "yes, my Mommy packed them for me, not you." Cooper pulled the bag of carrots to his chest protectively, giving Eliot what was supposed to be an intimidating glare, but mostly turned into a barely concealed smile.

"Yes but you know how to share, Monkey," Parker interrupted as she sat on the bench behind Cooper, pulling his curly blond locks away from his face.

"Fine," Cooper sighed dramatically, holding the bag out to Eliot, and the hitter took on with a smile, his eyes meeting Parker's.

"What are you doing here?" She asked wrapping an arm around Cooper protectively, like she was afraid he'd be taken away from her. And it wasn't Eliot really, who prompted the response, but with him came the memories of why she left, and it worried her. If they had found her, honestly, he could too.

"Nate was running game here, we just finished the con. I just wanted to hit a gym to blow off some steam," she nodded along knowingly, "this one was the closest," Eliot shrugged, and his eyes narrowed at Parker, and she had never really seen that look on his face before. "Where were you, Parker, we looked for you for years," the thief swallowed uncomfortably. She had gotten better at understanding people, not much but still she recognized the hurt in his voice.

She looked down, and pulled Cooper's hair into a ponytail, sliding a tie around it before he spun around, looking up at his mother with wide eyes. "Is he one of your superhero friends?" He turned back around and looked at Eliot, the same wide eyes, "Are you a superhero?"

Parker laughed despite herself, "yes, Monkey, can you go back and play with Harry and Gabby please?" She whispered into his ear.

"But he's a superhero, Mommy," Cooper cried incredulously, thoroughly put out that he couldn't hound his new role model with a thousand and one questions. But a stern look from Parker shut him up, and he nodded before standing up from the bench and walking inside.

"He's a cute kid," Eliot nodded his head towards the door to the rock gym. "How old is he?"

Parker sighed, "he's going to be five soon," she admitted, and she knew that Eliot would do the math in his head, that it wouldn't pass him by.

"So right when you…" he trailed off.

"It's not why I left," she added quickly with a shrug. And it was true, mostly, but she knew he wouldn't believe her, he couldn't trust her anymore. And while she knew it was coming, had expected it from the moment she left, it still hurt to think about, but she couldn't tell him the truth, couldn't bring herself to. She hadn't told anyone the real story.

"Then why?" he frowned deeply, brows knitting together, "you know how upset everyone was when Sophie left, and we could still talk to her at least. Nate considered you a daughter, considers you a daughter. He hit the bottle even harder when you left. He already lost his son, even if you aren't dead, he lost you too." Eliot's gruff voice always had a way of making her feel guiltier than she already was.

"I had to," she replied meekly, "I nodded to leave. I didn't want to," she tucked her knees to her chest and Eliot could feel that god awful tug in his chest.

"Parks, if you had a problem you could have come to us. We would have helped you." He was at the end of his wits, surprised and frustrated, and angry but so, so glad to see her alive, and safe, and happy.

"It wasn't as simple as that, Eliot," Parker wasn't mentally prepared to handle this conversation at the moment. "If I thought you guys could have helped, there was nothing you could have done." They both glanced at the rock gym, doubting the truth of that statement.

"Parks, Cooper's father, it's not…" the words didn't need to be said aloud, Parker could hear the question in his voice, and she shook her head.

"He's not yours," it was a simple tactless statement. Everything to be expected from Parker, but Eliot's stomach churned unpleasantly. On the one hand, he was glad that Parker hadn't run away with their child, glad he didn't have a son whose formative years he had missed. He knew what it was like to have an absent father, and he never wanted to be the cause of that. But on the other hand, it meant that Parker had a child with someone else, someone not him, and he didn't know if she had gotten pregnant before or after she left, but somehow not even that seemed to matter. It didn't quell the jealousy burning in the pit of his stomach.

"I'm cooking dinner, for the team tonight if you want to come," Eliot offered. He was still mad at her, still angry and didn't plan on letting go of that anytime soon without a more appropriate explanation. But they'd want to see her, and he knew she deserved a second chance even if he hadn't forgiven her yet.

"Do you want to use my kitchen? I have enough room if you want," she offered with a small smile, knowing that Eliot would prefer it to the en suite kitchen. "Cooper can't be out too late, I'd hate to have to leave early,"

It surprised Eliot really. Not the invitation, though Parker had never opened her home up to anyone before, she was secretive even with the team, but she was so motherly. He had never imagined Parker with children; she was good with them though, always had, but for some reason he always seemed to cast her as the crazy aunt. Eliot couldn't quite wrap his mind around Parker, crazy childish Parker, the one who thought St. Nick was the same thing as Santa Clause, and that there was a diamond hidden inside of a potato, she had a child. But she seemed to have settled down some, and motherhood definitely suited her in retrospect.

"Sure. Around five maybe?" he suggested, standing up from the picnic table. Parker nodded. "I should get back though; I wasn't intending to be gone for long, just a quick work out." He was practically babbling.

She scribbled down her address and returned to the gym. It was all sort of surreal to the thief. Her team was in Denver of all places. They were coming to her home, they'd found her, albeit by accident, but they were going to meet Cooper. Parker had no idea what to expect.

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><p>"Monkey, can you come pick up your animals?" the one thing Parker was steadfast on was the toys versus electronics situation in her home. Convinced that television and video games dampened creativity, Parker made sure Cooper only had a huge menagerie of stuffed animals and an arsenal of blocks to play with. More than she had owned as a child of course, but he still mostly relied on imagination.<p>

He thundered into the kitchen and grabbed one of the octopus tentacles, dragging it into the living room picking up other animals on his way. "Don't throw them on the floor in your room, either," she warned, straightening up the house.

"But Mommy, Ellie and Hardy can't go next to each other. They don't get along," he held up a brown bear, and a polar bear, and Parker wondered what Cooper would do when he realized that the people coming over were the 'superheroes' that she had told him stories about.

"Put Mr. Octopus in between them," she suggested her tone serious and not one bit as though consoling a child. Parker could understand the animosity between stuffed animals, Mr. Bunny was still afraid of being replaced after all those years.

When Cooper returned from his room, Parker had curled herself into the big leather arm chair, and he crawled into her lap. "Are you sad?" he asked, toying with her ponytail, significantly longer than it had been when she was part of the Leverage team.

"No Monkey," she replied with no conviction in her tone. "The people coming over tonight I haven't seen in a very long time. I'm afraid they're going to be mad at me." She still had no real concept of a filter, and usually she didn't see the point in being dishonest with Cooper. For a nearly five year old, he could be quite emotionally mature.

"They're your friends, right?" he asked thoughtfully, blinking up at her with those huge blue eyes. She nodded. "Then it won't matter for long. Gabby gets mad when I don't listen to her in the tunnels, but she forgives me. She says it's her job as my friend."

Parker smiled, "thank you, Monkey." Even if she wasn't entirely sure herself, Cooper's confidence was reassuring. "Can you promise to be on your best behavior for dinner?" she requested, brushing curls out of his face.

Cooper wasn't a particularly misbehaved child, but he had acquired Parker's tendencies to take things, and he ended up getting into things he really wasn't supposed to. "Yes Mommy, I will. And if I'm good I can go climbing with you this weekend, right?" He was beaming. They had only ever done one outdoor climb together, and he loved it.

"Yep," she nodded. The rock face she was setting the line on wasn't a difficult climb, and she definitely preferred not having to find someone to watch him. The doorbell snapped her out of her thoughts, and Cooper sprang up, eagerly buzzing their guests into the building. And it was only a few moments later when there was a knock on the door.

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><p>The hotel suite was comfortable, and there was enough room for everyone to spread out comfortably, and yet Nate, Sophie and Hardison were all cramped into one little sitting area, Apollo nowhere to be found when Eliot walked in.<p>

"I thought you were going to the gym," Sophie commented, observing his state of cleanliness, and she certainly wasn't complaining that he hadn't returned sweating like a pig. Her feet were in Nate's lap, and her head was resting on a pillow, and she was glad that he stayed in her line of sight so she didn't have to move.

"I did. Ran into someone," he muttered, "you'll never guess who," he added, his face in a permanent scowl.

"Aimee?"

"Kaye Lynn?"

"Sister Lupe?"

A chorus of names from the three team members, each with their own guess.

"Parker," he replied, shaking his head.

"Man, that's not even funny," Hardison rolled his eyes, turning back to his laptop to finish which ever game or television show was currently holding his attention.

"I know," Eliot growled, "that's why I'm not joking." Sophie sat straight up, looking at the hitter with wide critical eyes. And Nate and Hardison appeared equally surprised. "She was working at an indoor rock gym," he added, unsure of how to mention Cooper. "She invited us to dinner," well invited Eliot to cook as she hosted, but he didn't see the need to clarify that point.

And that was how they ended up at Parker's front door with bags of groceries, and Eliot still hadn't been able to bring himself to mention Cooper, and it would be a bit of a surprise for them, but not quite as much as it had been for him.

Hardison was the one to knock on the door.

"Mommy! Mommy they're here!" the four could hear though the door, and Nate and Sophie shared a confused look. The door swung open, seemingly on its own, but Eliot was the first to see the little boy standing on the door knob. "Eliot!" the blond boy leapt from his precarious position, flinging himself at the hitter. He caught his arms around Eliot's neck and clung to him with all four limbs, and Eliot only let out a little "oomph" as the child connected with his chest.

"Hey bud," Eliot passed the groceries to a shell shocked Hardison, and Parker appeared in the doorway, squelching any possibility of a mistake.

"You didn't tell them, did you? Her voice wasn't accusing, just surprised, and she turned to the shocked three. "Cooper, meet Hardison, Sophie and Nate. Guys, this is Cooper," she introduced, pulling her ponytail over her shoulder, shifting awkwardly.

"Eliot come see my room!" Cooper explained, blissfully unaware of the uncomfortable tension in the room. Figuring it was best for Parker to explain away from Cooper, Eliot agreed, shifting the boy to his hip and walking into the loft.

"Do you want to come in?" Parker asked, leaning against the door, and the thieves all stepped inside. When they settled down in her living room, she finally just let it out. "Yes, he's mine, he's almost five. It's not why I left, but it's a part of it. His father isn't in the picture, doesn't know. Cooper knows about what we did, what you guys still do. I'm sorry I left, but I had to and I still can't talk about why."

There was a beat of silence, and no one was quite sure what to say, and naturally it was Hardison who broke the awkward moment. "We missed you, woman."

A nodding consensus.

"You guys are still running cons, I see?" Parker commented. She wasn't surprised, but it did hurt a little to know that they had replaced her. And then they settled into a casual conversation, and Parker refrained from talking about Cooper as much as possible. She wasn't heartless, she knew Sam had been five when he got sick, and Parker could feel that pin much more acutely now.

Their conversation was interrupted by shrieking laughter, and Cooper tore down the stairs screaming, "No you can't get me!" And Eliot was right on his heels, purposely just behind him with a huge grin plastered to his face.

"Can't escape me, Mr. Spiderman," Eliot replied enthusiastically, snatching Cooper out of the air just as he attempted to leap off the stairs, arms stretched out Spiderman style. More giggles as the boy squirmed in Eliot's arms, and only then did the hitter notice the surprised looks from the occupants of the living room.

"Ellie put me down," Cooper ordered, looking up at the hitter from under his mop of curly blond hair.

"Did Mini-Parker just call him Ellie?" Hardison's incredulously amused tone.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Alright, I think its about time for this. Not in this chapter yet, but probably the next or the one after that, I'm including plot points that may be triggering for some people. To maintain the elements that I want to in this story, I'd rather not reveal what exactly they are yet, but I will say right off the bat that all content will fit within a T rating, nothing graphic or explicit. If you're worried about being triggered by this piece of fiction, just shoot me a private message, and I'm willing to discuss it further. Hope you all are liking this so far, and thank you for the wonderful feedback!

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><p>Eliot sat Cooper down on a chair at the breakfast bar and handed him a towel to dry off the hands that the boy had just washed. "Kay, bud, wanna help pick the grapes?" He asked, pulling a bag of red grapes out of one of the paper grocery bags.<p>

"Yeah, I'll help," he grinned broadly and started placing the picked grapes in the bowl that Eliot had given him.

"Thank you," Eliot smiled and began the preparations for dinner, grilled chicken with a fresh grape glaze, roasted potatoes with rosemary and olive oil and grilled and buttered brussel sprouts. With everything prepared for that, he dumped half of a box of cavatappi into a pot of boiling water, and began shredding cheese, cheddar, gruyere and asiago. Unsure of what Cooper's palate was like, the hitter figured mac 'n' cheese, spiced up a tiny bit, was a safe choice.

"What are we making?" Cooper asked, placing a plucked grape into his mouth instead of the bowl.

"Hey! Don't eat my grapes!" Eliot cried teasingly, but popped one of the grapes into his mouth as well.

"Share, Mommy says so," A smug little grin from the blond boy and Eliot was pretty impressed that Cooper had managed to turn his own argument around on him.

"Alright, how about you go see your Momma and say hello to our friends, okay? You can help me more in a little bit if you want," Eliot suggested, taking the bowl of grapes and dumping them into the blender. Cooper nodded, leaping off the chair and darting into the living room. The blond boy vaulted over the back of the couch and landed on his mother's lap.

Parker, to her credit, didn't look remotely surprised, and just patted his head, "hey Monkey," she greeted, "say hello," she nodded to the three curious guests.

"Hi who are you guys again?" Clearly the boy had been distracted by his new friend Eliot's presence, and Parker was amused at how quickly her son had taken to the hitter.

"I'm Sophie," the grifter introduced herself with a bright smile, leaning towards the little boy. To be honest, children weren't really her cup of tea. Sure they were cute, and she had enough maternal instinct to get her through holding infants, but small children frightened her. Grifting techniques didn't quite work so well with the incessant questioning of children, and their inability to draw the right conclusions. It left her powerless.

"You talk funn-" he paused midsentence, eyes widening dramatically. "Oh my gosh." He turned to face his mother, with a look of surprise akin to being told he was going to Disney World. "Mom." He couldn't quite articulate the words correctly.

"Yes Monkey?" She grinned knowingly at the look of dawning comprehension on his face, but Nate and Sophie and Hardison all shared looks of confusion.

"They're the superheroes!" He was practically shouting. "With Eliot, like the stories!" He was beaming, looking at the criminals in awe. "Hardy and Ellie and Sophie and Nate," thrilled was a severe understatement. If Parker knew what embarrassment was, she probably would have blushed. As it was though, she just pulled his hair back and nodded.

"Yeah, why don't you be polite and introduce yourself though. You don't want to make a bad impression on a superhero, do you?" She suggested quietly in his ear.

"I'm Cooper," he smiled at the three as he slid off of Parker's lap and walked towards Sophie. "Cooper Mason. I'm going to be five in October," he informed them matter of factly, and climbed onto the couch next to Sophie. "You're a grifter," he smiled up at her, patting her elbow. "Mommy said you're her best friend."

"Cooper," Parker spoke sharply, and for a moment they all thought she was angry at what he had revealed. "Give it back, you promised me best behavior, remember?" Cooper sighed, and held Sophie's cellphone out to her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's okay," Sophie replied, the surprise evident in her voice as she took her phone back. She hadn't felt a thing.

Hardison let out a laugh, "Oh yeah, mini-Parker." He nodded in affirmation, and earned a grin from Nate. And it was true, she and Cooper had both had the compulsion to steal from an extremely young age, and she wasn't opposed to him doing so, how could she, when she was a thief for a living. But she was trying to teach him when it was okay to steal, something she hadn't learned until Nate, and the rest of the team.

"What kind of stories did your mother tell you?" Nate asked, speaking up for the first time, and Cooper's eyes widened slightly, definitely in awe of the mastermind.

"Um, she told me that you guys saved a potato. And that's silly because what's the big deal about a potato, I bet there's like a hundred potatoes in the world," Cooper replied with a grin, "and you stole two mountains and a gober-gover-government," he struggled slightly with the word, but bent over into a bridge, and Parker could tell he was getting antsy with pent up energy.

"Really, she told you that?" Nate asked with mock surprise in his voice. Cooper curled his head under to look at Nate, and kicked his legs over, landing softly, and their visitors were torn between surprise and amusement, the relation to Parker was obvious.

"Yeah, you always get the bad guys. Ellie beats people up, and Sophie is an actress and you know everything. And Hardison does magic," Cooper added. "Can we play a game?" He climbed onto the couch next to Hardison and stood next to him, staring intently.

"You're really dark," Cooper commented, poking his cheek. "I'm not. I'm pale. Mommy says that's why I get sunburn and she makes me wear sunscreen. Do you get sun burn? I wish I looked like you," all spoken in one breath.

Hardison chuckled, "Little man, you gotta calm down, one question at a time."

Cooper frowned, climbing onto Hardison's shoulders. "Play a game with me." He demanded. "Please?" Was the addition after a warning look from Parker.

"Sure, what game do you want to play?" Hardison asked, standing up with a grip on the boy's shins to make sure that he didn't fall backwards.

"I'm a superhero, you can be my sidekick and trusty steed," Cooper informed Hardison, patting his head. "Sophie can be a damsel in distress kidnapped by the evil sorcerer, Nate. Kay?" Cooper grinned, apparently fascinated with the closely shaved hair on Hardison's head. Nate laughed, standing up and helping Sophie to her feet. "We're going to rescue her, Hardy."

Parker smiled and slipped out of the living room where the game had begun, and into the kitchen. "Oh hello," Eliot commented, looking up from slicing tomatoes with an apron wrapped around his front and a bandana keeping his hair out of his face. He tossed a towel over his shoulder and scooped up the tomato slices with the flat of the French knife and dropped them on top of a bed of lettuce.

"It smells really good," Parker commented, settling into the chair that Cooper had previously occupied. Eliot looked up, shuffling the cubed potatoes around in their pan to make sure they were cooking evenly.

"Everything go alright?" he motioned towards the living room but the shrieks of laughter pretty much gave them away. "I guess they're getting along pretty well."

"Cooper is pretty charming, at least he's never met someone who doesn't like him," she replied with a soft smile, turning towards the doorway. She caught a glimpse of his curly blond hair, apparently still sitting on Hardison's shoulders.

"Yeah I noticed," Eliot nodded and wiped his hands off on the towel. "You've changed," he commented softly, with that hitch in his throat that she had come to learn meant he was upset or remembering something painful. And that in itself was like a jab to her gut.

"It's been five years, El, what did you expect?" She asked quietly, and couldn't quite meet his gaze.

Eliot shrugged, and his eyes flickered again towards the doorway. "Not this," was his simple reply, and he frowned. They had never been good at that sort of thing, communicating with words. Before she left their communication had all been physical. But now it seemed even more difficult, like there was a barrier between them, and he wasn't sure what it was.

"I'm sure you've changed too, Eliot," Parker added softly, but she couldn't see a difference. Older of course, and his eyes looked more haunted than they had when she left, but he still seemed like the same Eliot to her.

"I tried." She wasn't sure what he meant by that, and he didn't elaborate but she was afraid to push. Forgetting him had been so much easier when she didn't see him, so much easier to ignore the guilt and pain and regret. But there he was, reminding her of all those things, and it hit her like a bag of bricks, and Parker really just wanted to curl into his arms. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Mom, come and play with us!" Cooper shouted from the other room, and neither had realized that they had been staring at each other until their gazes both snapped to the boy in the doorway, Hardison still carrying him on his shoulders.

"We need a good sorcerer on our team," Hardison informed them with a grin. "Right little man?" He craned his neck, trying to look at his passenger.

"Alright, Monkey," Parker pulled herself together, following them into the 'castle' and she couldn't quite hold back her laughter when she saw Sophie 'imprisoned' on the staircase, guarded by Nate who was wielding a poisonous octopus.

* * *

><p>By the time they sat down at the dining room table, Sophie had been rescued four times because according to Cooper, his mother 'wasn't the type of girl you rescue,' and Sophie was uncertain if she should have been offended or not. Cooper had discovered Nate's different characters, to both of their delight, and had insisted on a Russian accent for the evil sorcerer. Sophie was flattered when the little boy insisted that her 'funny accent' made her sound like a princess, and couldn't help but laugh as he made faces at her from across the table.<p>

Eliot set all of the food out on the table, and poured everyone glasses of wine that he knew would pair perfectly with the dinner, and grape juice was served to the child.

Cooper blinked up at Eliot expectantly, the only one who hadn't been served food. "You want something, Bud?" Eliot teased, and Cooper pulled a face. "Oh that's right," he brought a ramekin out of the kitchen, and the boy's face lit up.

"Macaroni and cheese!" he exclaimed excitedly. Parker was usually surprisingly strict with his diet, and while she still preferred sugary cereal to any other type of food, she recognized the importance of a well-balanced diet for a growing child, and mac 'n' cheese didn't usually factor into that.

"Careful, Bud," Eliot warned, setting it down in front of him, "it's hot, just came out of the oven."

Cooper picked up his fork, reading to dig in, and Eliot took a seat at the head of the table across from Parker, and he noticed the warning glace she sent her son, almost daring him to take a bite of the macaroni. "Cooper," her stern reminder pulled him out of his near drooling, scent induced haze.

"What? Oh right, Thank you for cooking, Ellie," Cooper beamed up at his hero, who he had insisted on sitting next to with Hardison on his other side.

"You're welcome, Bud," Eliot picked up his own fork, silently reciting the thanks his momma had taught him before they all dug in.

* * *

><p>Hardison, and Nate, and Sophie had all left around eight, claiming tiredness and work to do before bed, but Eliot hung behind. Cooper, after all, had begged the hitter to stay later, and made him promise to read or tell him a story before bed, and so Eliot had offered to put him to bed for Parker.<p>

"Can you help me brush?" the blond boy asked as he opened the bathroom door; Eliot was leaning against the wall just outside. "Mommy usually helps 'acause she doesn't want me to get cavides." Eliot chucked quietly, Cooper was clearly over tired, and sure enough the sentence was followed by a yawn.

"Sure," he nodded, and lifted the boy up on to the bathroom counter.

Two glasses of water, another trip to the bathroom, three changes of pajamas (they weren't comfortable!) and a hair brush later, Cooper finally settled down into his bed, requesting that Eliot sit next to him like his mother did to tell him a story.

"What kind of story do you want to hear?" Eliot asked, one foot on the ground to keep himself from falling off the edge of the twin bed. He didn't mind much, the demands of children were usually quite simple to fulfill, and his nephew and nieces all enjoyed treating the hitter like a play thing. Cooper was practically respectful compared to them.

"A nice one. Your favorite story," Cooper replied, blinking up at Eliot under the mess of blond curls, and the hitter couldn't help but notice that he had Parker's eyes, and the same quirky facial expressions.

"My favorite story?" Eliot was a little surprised at the response; usually requests were something along the lines of 'tell us about the hero' from his nephew, or 'a love story' from his nieces. They cared little about what he liked, but he suspected that was normal for kids their age, because he doubted that a child of Parker's could be normal.

"Yeah, if you like it then it's gotta be good," Cooper yawned again, and Eliot wasn't positive that the boy would make it through even the shortest story, but he supposed that was kind of the point.

"Alright, well, once upon a time…"

* * *

><p>As a thank you for putting Cooper to bed, Parker insisted on cleaning up from dinner. It didn't take long though, since Eliot was practically obsessively clean while cooking, and she just tossed the dinnerware in the dishwasher, and cleaned the pots and pans in the sink.<p>

She curled into the leather armchair, noting Eliot's absence, and resisted the urge to go and check on them. It was nearly ten when he appeared at the top of the stairs, and Parker unraveled herself from her contorted position in the chair when she heard the tell-tale squeaks of the stairs.

"Did he give you too much trouble?" she asked, stretching out her limbs like a cat.

"Nah, he just fell asleep on top of me, I didn't want to move until I was sure he was out," Eliot replied, sinking into the couch. He had only just found her, after years of looking, and he couldn't bring himself to leave, not convinced that she'd be there when he returned. "He's really well behaved," his nephew at that age had pretty much been a little brat, destructive and loud and unruly. He was even more impressed with Parker's parenting.

"He's not usually so good, he's just especially compliant because he thinks you're a super hero," Parker replied with a laugh and a grin. She was positive that the hitter was getting a kick out of the hero worship her son was displaying.

"You know, if I'm a superhero, and Nate and Sophie and Hardison are superheroes, then you're a superhero too," Eliot chuckled.

"Maybe, but I'm his mother, so I automatically don't count," she replied with a smile. "I'm the one who has to punish him." Eliot sat forward on the couch.

"Parks, don't take this the wrong way, but I would have never expected you to be such a good mother. But you're really good with him, natural even. I'm really proud of you," Eliot admitted, and he could be fairly certain she of all people wouldn't take it the wrong way. It was perhaps what he liked about her, among other things of course.

She was practically blushing, and she was one to take things at face value, no need to assume an unintentional insult. That and she still didn't really understand sarcasm.

Neither was quite certain who moved first, but they closed the gap with a searing kiss, and for a moment it felt like coming home. His hands gripped her slender waist, and then she was gone again. She had squirmed out of his grip, now pressed back into the armchair like she couldn't get far enough away from him.

"No, Eliot," her voice was soft, almost timid, and if he didn't know her so well he would have thought she sounded scared. But then, she wasn't the Parker he had known, wasn't the same crazy girl who had left and Eliot had to wonder if it was him she was afraid of, if it was his fault she had left.

"What?" He asked in confusion, his brows furrowed with concern. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," she half squeaked out, "I can't. You should go." And Eliot had never seen her like that before, had never heard that tone in her voice, so he nodded and let himself out of the apartment, it was getting late anyway, he had to get back to the hotel, maybe find a different gym.

Parker barely kept the silent tears back until the door pulled shut, and she locked it behind her before ascending the stairs. She looked to her bedroom door, and then to Cooper's, and chose his instead. He was still fast asleep, curled peacefully under his Spiderman sheets, and she pressed a soft kiss to his forehead and crawled into the bed, wrapping her arms around him so she could listen to the soft breathing, and the murmurs Cooper always let out while dreaming.

She wasn't quite sure how long it took, but eventually her breathing and her pulse slowed, no longer tattooing a beat in her neck, and she drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

When Parker woke up, she blinked the sun out of her eyes, noting that Eliot had forgotten to close the blinds when he put Cooper to bed. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked around. A frown spread across her face as she realized she was alone. Usually a light sleeper, the movement of Cooper climbing over her to get out of bed normally would have woken her up. Apparently he was getting sneakier, and she knew that could only mean trouble. With any luck, he'd end up a better thief than her, provided he didn't grow too tall or broad.

She stretched, joints popping in relief, and Parker climbed out of the bed. She hadn't noticed the room much the night before, but groaned when she saw the stuffed animals scattered across the floor. She had specifically instructed him to put them in the hammock hanging in the corner, its sole purpose to carry the menagerie.

"Cooper!" he was going to be in trouble. She opened the bedroom door and padded down the stairs, looking around for any sign of her son. Brows furrowed when she didn't find him in the kitchen. There had been no snack before bed like usual, so she had expected the boy to be ravenous come morning. But it was far too clean to have been struck by hurricane Cooper.

"Monkey?" She called again, and walked over to one of the air vents. They were just a little bit too small for her. The width of her shoulders was something that she had no control over despite how flexible she was, and despite the odd ways she could contort her body, but Cooper could still fit for the time being. Though admittedly, Parker was confident that he'd be too big within the next five or six years. But they were one in the same, and as far as Cooper was concerned, air vents were like an at home version of the caves at the rock gym.

He had a habit of disappearing inside without warning, and Parker had spent half an hour looking for him the first time before she thought to call his name into the air vent, and the response he gave had flooded her entire being with relief, though she hadn't even been aware of the near paralyzing fear that had plagued her before. Parker still had difficulty naming her feelings.

"Cooper?" She called into the vent, and waited quietly for a reply. When no reply came, her frown deepened, and she returned upstairs, wondering if he was hiding from her, because he'd done that before too. "Cooper if you don't get out here right now, you're not coming with me this weekend," she threatened loudly, checking the bathroom, and her bedroom and closet. She moved back to his room, and couldn't help the worry that was settling in, because Cooper's closet was literally the last place to look.

She pushed the bedroom door open, and stepped inside and only then did she notice it, his favorite stuffed animal, the octopus, on the floor at the foot of the little twin bed.

One. Two. Three.

She didn't have to count to know that a leg was missing, one of the tentacles torn off, she could see the loose stuffing, and almost afraid to look, she peered out of the window. Her-their loft was on the fourth floor, the bedrooms a story higher, but even at such a distance, she could make it out, a purple tentacle on the pavement below.

The realization hit her like a bag of cinder blocks to the chest, and Parker fell back away from the window. Her worst nightmare, but not quite. From the moment she had held Cooper for the first time, she had been imagining his death, that ever present, petrifying fear that she couldn't escape. There was nothing she was more afraid of than that. Except…

She had never even stopped to consider this possibility. Maybe too awful to even imagine, she couldn't breathe, couldn't gasp for breath couldn't even register the burning in her lungs and didn't notice the light-headedness that was setting in, the way the world was spinning as she lay curled up on the floor at the foot of his bed, hands clutching the stuffed octopus.

She knew Cooper wasn't dead, knew that what she thought had been her worst fear paled in comparison to the possible reality. He'd been taken; she knew the word but couldn't even bring herself to think it.

Kidnap.

And she didn't know where he was, or if he was okay, or if he was being treated like she had. Like another blow to the gut, she didn't know what was happening to him, but even speculation was too painful to imagine.

* * *

><p>It didn't take a grifter to recognize when Eliot was ticked off by something, but it certainly didn't hurt, and she had been the only one in the sitting room, book in hand, when Eliot returned to the hotel. "Everything alright, El?" She had asked, peering over the rim of her reading glasses. A grunt had been the only response, and a few doors slammed a bit louder than needed, and she didn't see the irritable hitter until the morning.<p>

She walked out of the bedroom, wrapping her robe more tightly around her, it was early, barely sunrise, but she wasn't entirely surprised that Eliot was already awake. He was perched at the breakfast bar in the small kitchen, a coffee mug in hand and his forehead resting on the tile countertop.

"Good morning," she greeted lightly, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Only a growl.

"Okay, someone's grouchy," she rolled her eyes. "What happened last night, you were fine when we left?" She sat across from him at the bar.

"Nothin', it's fine," he growled back, picking his head up off of the counter.

"Obviously it's not. What happened, has she moved on or something?" Sophie furrowed her brow. She wouldn't pretend to understand the relationship that Eliot and Parker shared- had shared, but she wouldn't have suspected that sort of issue between the two. At least last night both had seemed mutually interested.

"No. She just. She," Eliot huffed, leaning his head in his hands, "She's so different, so I don't even know. She flinched, Sophie. From me. Like she was scared I'd hurt her." His voice hitched. "She's never done that before."

Sophie leaned across the table, resting a hand on his arm, "Eliot, are you sure she wasn't just surprised? It has been five years."

He shook his head "It's been five years, but I know her better than that. It wasn't surprise. It was scared."

And it was; he knew that he had caused that reaction. And it wasn't entirely unusual really. He scared women all the time, and sometimes he scared men too. That was the normal, the standard reaction. Eliot had killed people, could do it on instinct. For a while, murder had just been a reaction. Overseas, in the war, he hadn't been himself, and he couldn't get rid of that, couldn't go back all the way.

But Parker? Never once had she looked at him with fear. Even in the occasions in which he had threatened her, hoping to scare her into some sort of normalcy, Parker had never batted an eye at his nature.

"Maybe you should go and talk to her, now that you've both had a chance to calm down," Sophie suggested, interrupting Eliot from his musings.

Just a grunt, but Eliot stood up, downing the rest of his coffee, and with a loud slam of ceramic on tile, he stalked off.

* * *

><p>"Hey!" The little boy shouted from a locked room, "Hey I know you can hear me!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. Food in the corner sat untouched and the little bed remained empty and made. Instead, Cooper had sat himself on top of a shelf, eyes fixed on the sole camera in the room. His mother had taught him how to spot them whenever they went shopping.<p>

"I want my mommy back!" He screamed, his voice hoarse from over use, he had no idea how long he had been locked up in the room, couldn't remember what time it was when he had woken up to that man standing over his bed, a cloth pressed to his mother's mouth, and Cooper for the life of him couldn't figure out why she hadn't woken up when he had screamed for her.

Something was wrong, he knew it, but he could see her chest rising and falling, he knew she was alive. "If you don't give me back, Mommy's super hero friends are going to get you and kill you." He shouted even louder. That much he had confidence in. Eliot and Hardison and everybody would save the day, but he was worried about his mother, needed to know she was okay too.

The lights flickered before going out completely. "That doesn't scare me, you nummyhead!" Cooper stared directly into the camera lens, and so he didn't notice the door handle turn before it flung open, startling the little blond boy so badly that he nearly fell off of the shelf.

"You shut up and come with me," a large, angry looking man growled, his hand wrapping around the little boy's small upper arm and dragged him off the shelf and out of the room.

"Ow, ow stop!" Cooper shrieked, struggling against the grip. "Let me go!" He demanded before sinking his teeth into the man's arm and another piercing shriek as he was thrown across the room.

* * *

><p>He had practiced what he was going to say in five or six different variations, but he still hadn't figured out what to say exactly when he rang the buzzer to be let into her apartment building. No answer, he checked his watch, nine am, roughly, no reason why she wouldn't be awake. The hitter snagged the open door, holding it for an elderly woman and her groceries.<p>

After helping the woman get all of her bags to the kitchen, he proceeded on to the fourth floor. He rapped his knuckles on her door, waiting for it to open, or for her to shout at him to go away, or at least some sort of life behind the door. But still, no answer. Louder this time, he knocked again. Eliot frowned. She had mentioned the day before not having to work, and he knew well enough that young boys didn't sleep in past eight if they could help it. He twisted the door knob, surprised when the heavy wooden door swung open mostly of its own accord.

"Parker?" He called gently, stepping over the threshold into her home. It felt oddly invasive. Sure he'd been there before, less than twenty four hours ago, so it was nothing new, but this time he hadn't been invited, and he wasn't quite sure if he was overstepping his boundaries, since he wasn't even sure if they were friends at the moment.

Not after her reaction the night before. The fitful sleep, the awful dreams in which she didn't just flinch, but screamed and ran away, and that look of terror in her eyes. He had no idea what to think of her reaction, had no idea what had caused it, the fear. Had she really run away because of him?

But something felt off, and Eliot Spencer had learned five years ago not to ignore his gut instincts when it came to Parker. Last time he had, she disappeared without a trace. She had vanished into thin air, right after that one con. Her voice had sounded funny when she came back online on their coms; he had suspected something, but said nothing. And then she had flitted away.

It was quiet and just as clean as when he had left the night before. Glancing around, he started up the stairs. "Parker?" He called again, a hand resting on Cooper's doorknob. He knew that he was more likely to find the thief in her own room, but it was the only room in the place he hadn't been in, and Parker's bedroom certainly seemed like overstepping the boundaries, even if what he was doing at the moment wasn't. Even on good terms, Parker's bedroom was a place he wouldn't want to enter without explicit permission. So instead he swung open Cooper's bedroom door, entirely not at all prepared for what was in front of him.

"Parker?"

* * *

><p>Somewhere in the back of her mind, Parker could hear Eliot calling her name, but it was muted, like shouting underwater, and she was still struggling to breathe. Kent. That was his name, one she hadn't thought in years, and she could feel her skin crawl just at the name, his hands on her cheek, shoulder, and knee. She could feel the sting of finger shaped bruises on her neck, wheezed great gasping breaths like her windpipe was being crushed.<p>

Bitch, that was what he had called her, not that he was the first. Or the worst. Her collection of foster fathers had all had color vocabularies, but she had never seemed to bruise so easily before, never felt so helpless. She was an adult; this was supposed to be behind her.

"Parker." She could hear him calling her name a little more clearly. No, not just behind her, those feelings were supposed to be gone from her life entirely. She had Cooper, she had vowed to the boy that he'd never experience the same sort of horrors that she had suffered through as a child. She had promised him that the very first time she had held him in her arms. But she had failed, miserably. Someone had Cooper; someone had taken her son for some unknown reason with an unknown agenda and for all she knew that could be torturing her sweet little boy.

She barely registered the arms being wrapped around her, couldn't concentrate on anything except struggling for air between her gasping sobs. But the song, his voice she started to notice/ Eliot was singing to her. Eliot.

Another punch to the gut. She was an awful mother. She had feared that too, from the beginning. How was she supposed to be a good mother when she'd never had one herself? She had nothing to go on, no example, and this only proved how horrible she actually was. She couldn't even pull herself together to start looking for him. She didn't know just how long she'd been on the floor, fetal, wracked with the terrifying possibilities, but every second she spent overwhelmed, was another moment Cooper suffered. And so even though she couldn't compose herself entirely, she managed a few words between tiny sobs, "Cooper, taken. Eliot please?"

"Darlin'," his hands in her hair, that much she could register. "Darlin you've gotta calm down."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry this took so long! Its also on the shorter side, but the next chapter should be a big one, and I wanted to cut off here. I've got a whole lot going on right now, and a whole lot of Eliot/Parker pieces in the work, so be on the look-out for those! Should be up sometime this weekend.

* * *

><p>Eliot had sat on the carpeted floor with his legs crossed, and he pulled the still mostly unresponsive thief into his lap. He tucked her head under his chin, and ran a hand through her hair soothingly. He'd never seen her so upset, even when that phony psychic had brought up her brother it had been mostly anger, not this sort of all-consuming agony.<p>

"Parker, Darlin', come back. You've gotta calm down or I can't help you," He spoke softly, but her chest still heaved, and her entire being was trembling violently. Without letting her go, he reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone and dialed Hardison.

"Hey man, what's up?" the hacker was clearly already in the middle of those dumb video games he played so often, Eliot could tell from his distracted tone, and it took all of his self-control not to shout at the idiot because really? He was acting like a child, but meanwhile, Parker's son was missing.

"Hardison, this is important. Can you tap into the security feed in Parker's apartment building?" Eliot was totally not in the mood for small talk, and he knew that the hacker would have no problem with the small task but phrasing it as a question would make the younger man more likely to comply without question.

Apparently Hardison got the seriousness of the issue, because when he replied, he sounded infinitely more focused, "Yeah sure, that's no problem, it's a basic system, keep logs on the system for a week or so, but why?" From the tapping and clicking Eliot knew Hardison was already on it.

"See if you can find anything suspicious around Parker's apartment between oh uh, ten pm last night and eight am this morning. Cooper is missing, Parker thinks he was kidnapped." Not waiting for a reply, he snapped the phone shut and tossed it on the ground next to him. Talking to the hacker would only distract him from the task at hand, and it was most important that they get whatever leads they could.

"Parker, I need you to calm down," he tried again, still rubbing soothing circles on her back, "Cooper needs you to calm down," he reminded her softly, hesitantly, he didn't know what would make it worse and what would help her settle. She was crazy after all, and that was mostly good but she was entirely unpredictable.

With a shaky intake of breath, she seemed to have come back, "Eliot," her voice was raspy and cracked softly as she pulled away from his chest a little. "Eliot they have him. He has him. I tried," her lip was quivering and the hitter could tell that she was on the verge of breaking down again.

"No. No. We're going to get him. What can you tell me? Who has Cooper? Who is 'he'?" Eliot asked quickly, trying to keep Parker focused on something other than the crushing fear.

"No," Parker shook her head, "You don't understand," she wasn't sure when the realization had hit her, but she knew exactly who had her son. It was painfully obvious. And the knowledge wasn't comforting in the least. Not with the intimate insight she had into his ways.

"So explain it to me, Parks. I want to help. Give me something that I can go on. This is what I did for a living for years, Darlin''." He was surprised by how close to desperate his own voice sounded. No child deserved to go through something like that, but this wasn't just any child, this was Parker's son. His Parker. Or at least she had been.

"Kent Matson. Remember him?" Parker choked out, unsure of if Eliot would, and unsure of how much he would pry. She didn't know what was worse, admitting to Eliot that she was an unfit mother after he'd already revealed he didn't think she'd be able to handle it, or the possibility of revealing why she had left.

"That's…" Eliot trailed off, the name was familiar, so familiar but he couldn't place it, and then it dawned on him. "Parker," his voice was so soft the thief could hardly hear it crack. "Don't tell me he…" Eliot could hardly bring himself to say it. "Kent Matson, he's the mark we were working on when you were kidnapped."

She nodded, "it wasn't just kidnap," she choked, curling her knees to her chest, tucking herself into a ball before she finished, "he's Cooper's father." Parker was in tears again, and while Eliot couldn't blame her, it made the realization that much more painful. Rape. Kent Matson the mark who had eluded them had raped his Parker and had gotten her pregnant.

"He knows about Cooper?" Eliot frowned, "Is that why you left? You didn't want to tell us?" He wasn't just burning with hatred, that fact alone stung deeply. He had thought Parker had trusted him.

"Eliot, please," she hiccuped, so worked up that she couldn't even cry. "I can't do this right now. I need to get him back." Even after give years she hadn't been able to tell Eliot while perfectly calm, she certainly couldn't talk about it now.

"I'm sorry," he replied, pressing a kiss into her hair. "I have to tell them though," she knew he meant the team. "Not that he's Cooper's father or that, but they have to know who we're dealing with. They can help."

She nodded and finally managed to pick herself up out of Eliot's lap. "It's okay. Tell them whatever you need to in order to get him back," Eliot knew she'd be okay. The agonizing shock had passed, and all that was left was a white hot, perfectly calm hatred and determination.

* * *

><p>He had already screamed his throat raw and each slightly gasping breath hurt. Cooper wasn't afraid of the dark, and he'd never been afraid of small spaces, but the men had tossed him into some tiny box and he could hardly lift his arms much less move around. He'd never been in anything like it. The air vents and the tunnels restricted movement but he was still able to scoot around, able to escape and in there, the tiny box, he was stuck.<p>

He tried to blink, but his one eye was swollen shut, and as his fingers searched the walls for any amount of weakness he could tell that the man's strong grip on his wrists had left bruises. He knew he had to have faith that Eliot would find him, but he couldn't help but wonder if they'd be too late, because the box kind of started to feel like it was collapsing in on him. And it was getting harder and harder to breathe. He tried to listen though, he could hear them talking outside of the box, Parker this and Parker that. He knew they were talking about his mom, but over his own breathing he couldn't tell what they were saying.

He hoped she was alright, and secretly, inside that box he hoped that Eliot rescued her first. He was strong, he was okay. A box wasn't so bad, but he couldn't help but worry about his mother. There was no guarantee that she was equally okay. He knew this was what she was afraid of; he'd heard her calling out in her sleep. When they were home and she had nightmares, he always crawled into her bed and snuggled in real close, but he couldn't do that now. Maybe if only he had screamed a little louder she would have woken up…

* * *

><p>When the team finally arrived at her apartment, all of their equipment packed up from the hotel ready to set up shop at her place. Sophie had hovered and worried and hovered more. "Parker you should eat something." "Parker if you need anything," but the thief couldn't bring herself to speak to the woman. She loved Sophie, she really did, but Parker knew if she talked it would come out sounding like blame. It was no coincidence that Cooper had been kidnapped the same day she'd run into her old team. Kent must have had eyes on them, waiting for them to lead him to her, but she knew Sophie wasn't really at fault. Neither was Nate or Hardison or Eliot. So she kept her mouth shut as Hardison clacked away at his computer, and Nate made phone calls to contacts in the area and Eliot just bristled on the couch next to her, fighting the urge to pace.<p>

"Hardison, I know you're trying but can't you go any faster?" Sophie remarked, equally impatient. She was perched on the arm of the leather chair that Nate was sitting in, her foot tapping a staccato beat into the floor.

"Woman, I am going as fast as I can. I've got some footage of the man entering her apartment but I don't have a clear shot of his face and I'm trying to shift through Kent Matson's files and such but so far nothing links him to the area," Hardison replied, his fingers never hesitating, his eyes focused on the screen intently. "Aha, I've got a warehouse linked to a dead alias of his, address is on your phone, Eliot, go."

Eliot was up in a heartbeat, grabbing for his keys and jacket before most could blink, and so he wasn't quite sure how Parker managed to get in-between him and the door in that amount of time. "I want to go with you," he knew that she was going to say that, but it didn't make him any less uncomfortable.

"No, Parker, are you sure that's a good idea?" It was her son, he couldn't really say no, but he raised an eyebrow, clearly concerned. "I don't want you to do something you'll regret. You have to be able to keep a cool head."

Parker shook her head, "I'm going, let's go, now." She turned and walked out the front door, not even bothering with her coat or keys, and Eliot followed after her, close on her heels, the worried expression glued to his face.

The warehouse address was only fifteen minutes away, but with Parker shifting and tapping her foot and the tiny whimpers that she thought he couldn't hear, those made it seem like an eternity. She was out of the truck before he'd even pulled to a complete stop, and it was half a miracle that he managed to catch her before she busted through the front door of the warehouse.

"Parker," he spoke sharply, "we can't just waltz in there. Not if it's where they're keeping him. We don't know what they want with him, he could be disposable," his stomach churned with guilt just for suggesting the idea, and the look of horror that spread across her face was like a punch to the solar plexus.

"See if you can find another way in, I'll scope the building. Do not. Go in. Without my okay," he instructed firmly, hoping she'd take his expertise in retrieving as fact and he handed her one of the extra ear buds and they split up.

It was just a course examination, but he could count four vans that matched the description of the one Hardison had spotted on the security footage. But something didn't feel right. He had no idea what it was, but his stomach rolled in that way it always did when there were sniper crosshairs on him, or when he could feel the slight hitch of a pressure bomb engaging. He could hear Parker's soft sniffs over the com, and he was fairly certain she forgot what it was like to have the team listening in, but in this case it didn't matter much. She was beyond being able to control her emotions.

Eliot swung around to the far side of the building structure, watching a few cars move around but nothing really caught his eye much. He was certain that none of the drivers were a problem.

"Eliot, I found an intake vent, I already pulled the grate off, can I go in?" he heard over the ear bud, and he paused to consider all of the possible scenarios. The way he always did. He thought quickly, but he tried to always think before he acted.

"Yeah, but don't leave the air duct until I've said so, and make sure you're not seen," the hitter relocated to a position with easy access to the door, and he could hear the thief snaking her way through the ventilation.

"Eliot," the desperate tone worried him, "Eliot," she repeated more frantically this time, and he busted through the front door just as she clarified and his eyes widened dramatically. Of all the things he had imagined, this was not one of them, and he just stood in blank silence, unable to hear the other team members calling his name, demanding an explanation. His stomach rolled as he turned to Parker who was dropping out of the air vent.

Empty.

The warehouse was entirely empty. They had the wrong place.


End file.
